Packers open up as 8-point favorites vs Rams on Monday Night Football

The Green Bay Packers will host the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football this week and have opened up as eight-point favorites in the game on DraftKings. The Rams, who had just lost seven-straight games coming out of their Week 7 bye, just had one of their highlights of the season in a win against the Las Vegas Raiders. On Thursday Night Football, Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield — claimed by the team on Tuesday — led drives of 75 and 98 yards in the fourth quarter after being down 16-3.

John Wolford started the game under center for Los Angeles, but the Rams pulled the plug on him three offensive snaps into the game and handed the keys to the former first-overall pick. Wolford and Mayfield saw the field because the preferred starter Matthew Stafford is now on the injured reserve for a spinal cord contusion. The 4-9 Rams are not mathematically eliminated from the playoff race, but FiveThirtyEight gives them less than one-tenth of a one percent chance to make the postseason. Only one team, the 3-10 Chicago Bears, has been eliminated from the NFC playoffs in 2022.

While the Rams are coming off of three extra days of rest, the Packers are coming off of a week of no football. Head coach Matt LaFleur stated on Monday that the coaches and players were going to work from the road in Week 13, their much-needed bye week. At one point this season, the Packers played five games in five weeks at five stadiums, including two countries.

Despite quarterback Aaron Rodgers now battling through both thumb and rib injuries, Green Bay has had three of their better offensive performances in the last four games. Those include all three of their games in which the team has scored at least 28 points in 2022.

Injuries to keep an eye out for this week are safety Darnell Savage (foot), receiver Romeo Doubs (ankle) and left tackle David Bakhtiari (appendectomy). Savage has recently been replaced by Rudy Ford, who has been playing well in place of Savage, and might be starting no matter if Savage is healthy enough to suit up or not. Last week, the coaching staff stated they were hoping that Doubs would be ready to go against the Bears and even had a package of plays dialed up for him.

Bakhtiari had an emergency appendectomy on Friday of Week 13 and was ruled out of the Chicago game when the procedure was announced. While LaFleur stated that it could take Bakhtiari some time to return to the field, it should be noted that Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick played a week after his appendectomy just last month.

The moneyline in this game is Green Bay -325, which carries an implied probability that the Packers win about 76.5 percent of the time. According to FiveThirtyEight’s model, Green Bay has a six percent chance to make the playoffs coming into Week 15, which is a slight improvement from where their bye week began. If the Packers win out, they have a 58 percent chance to make the postseason, per the model. Currently, Green Bay holds the 14th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.